Concerto winners perform solos tonight

Cynthia Burton has been playing the violin since the age of three and has been the concertmaster, or first chair violinist, of the UNC Symphony Orchestra for the past two years.

But when she takes the stage tonight, she will do something she has never done before with the group — perform as a soloist.

“I’m thrilled to play Tchaikovsky with the UNCSO for my solo debut,” Burton said in an e-mail. “This performance is very meaningful for me, and I can’t wait to share that with the audience.”

ATTEND THE SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE

Time: 7:30 p.m. today
Location: Hill Hall
Auditorium Info: music.unc.edu

Burton and vocalist Joncie Sarratt are winners of this year’s UNC Concerto Competition and will be performing solos at a scholarship benefit concert tonight.

The benefit concert, hosted by the UNC Symphony Orchestra, will raise money for the UNC music scholarship fund for incoming students.

This concert is also an opportunity for the winners of the UNC Concerto Competition to perform as soloists. The competition is held each fall and is open to juniors and seniors who have in some way contributed to the music culture at UNC.

This year, three judges from Wake Forest University, Duke University, and UNC School of the Arts were brought in to choose the winners of the competition.

Their solo performances tonight are the prize for winning.

Burton said she is very excited to have won this opportunity.

She said that though she has been playing in an orchestra for a long time, being featured as a soloist is a completely different experience. She will be playing a piece by Tchaikovsky, with which she won the competition.

Sarratt won the UNC Concerto Competition for her talent as a mezzo-soprano singer.

She sang two arias from “Le nozze di Figaro” by Mozart at the competition, and she will sing both during the performance tonight.

Sarratt is a junior vocal performance major and appeared in her first UNC Opera production this past fall as Volupia and Didone in Cavalli’s “L’Egisto.” She has also studied opera in Vienna, Austria.

All proceeds of tonight’s concert go directly into the music department’s scholarship funds.

Professor Tonu Kalam, conductor of the symphony orchestra, said that right now he expects an audience of about 400 people. This is the second scholarship benefit concert of the year.

Kalam said that directing a performance featuring a soloist is very different from conducting a regular orchestra piece.

He said that, as a conductor, he must be sure to balance the sound level of the orchestra to ensure that the soloists will have enough support but will not be overpowered.

Kalam also said that because the soloists often have a different interpretation of the piece, he must be sure to pick the right tempo to provide a balance every time.

Both the soloists and conductor said they are enthusiastic and optimistic about tonight’s performance.

“For most young musicians, soloing with orchestra is one of those landmarks in your development that you really hope for!” Burton said in the e-mail. This has definitely been a short-term goal for my undergraduate career and I’m very excited for the performance.”

Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.